


What Happens at Home

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Meant to Be [13]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-19
Updated: 2011-10-19
Packaged: 2017-10-24 18:36:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/266605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He needed to go somewhere, get some air. There was no way he could ever make sense of this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Happens at Home

**Author's Note:**

> Normal is a spoiler in the sense that what happened to the family in that episode happens in this story, but in the parameters of an AU. Yeah, I hope that made sense. Every character in this story is a Criminal Minds character from one of the six seasons.

She hadn't been asleep for long when the phone rang. It had been a quiet evening at home. Sam got off work at seven and came home straight after. The couple cooked together, enjoyed dinner, and settled down for a relaxing evening alone. They got wrapped up watching The Others; went to bed a little later than normal. And of course it went without saying that sleep wasn’t on either one of their minds when they finally turned out the light. Jessie didn’t even think she’d been to sleep yet when she reached over for the phone in the dark.

“Hello.”

“Jessie, it’s Mark; I need to speak with Sam right now.”

“OK.”

She poked her husband but he didn’t move. Jessie poked him again.

“Sam, honey, wake up.” She pinched his earlobe, which was quite sensitive.

“Huh?”

“Wake up Sam; it’s the telephone.”

He didn’t exactly wake up but he did reach for the phone. Sam put it up to his ear.

“This is Sam.” He mumbled.

“Chief, its Mark. We need you over at the Hill house on Appletree Terrace right away. It’s a…you need to come over here now.”

Sam could hear the terror in Mark’s voice and it burned the sleep right off him. He sat up in bed, reaching for the lamp.

“Mark, what happened?”

“Charlie and I are at the Hill house. You need to come over here Chief…right now.”

“I'm on my way.”

Sam hung up and got out of bed. His wife just looked at him. It was a Thursday night, well Friday morning since it was almost 1am. Where could he possibly be going?

“What's going on, Sam?” she asked.

“I don't know. Mark said I needed to get over to the Hill house. I'm heading there to help out him and Charlie.”

“Be careful.”

Sam stopped taking off his pajamas. He could hear the fear in Jessie’s voice. He could feel it all the way down to the pit of his stomach. He came back over to the bed, taking her face in his hands.

“I'm gonna be fine. I’ll go and handle this and then I’ll be right back here with you, baby.”

“OK.”

Jessie nodded, putting on a smile. They both knew she wasn’t feeling it on the inside. Sam wished he could stay, console her, but he had to get out there and do his job. Appletree Terrace was the quiet, upper middle class part of town. Hotch lived on that block and Sam would’ve too if his wife wanted the house he bought her for Christmas. Nothing really happened up there except the occasional burglary and the once in a while domestic dispute.

Nothing had ever happened at the Hill house for as far back as Sam could remember. Except the day their youngest daughter died. Jenny Hill was hit by a car last year. She was playing ball in the driveway while her father washed the car. When it wandered into the street she went after it. The driver of the car didn’t have time to stop.

It was a tragedy and the whole town felt their pain. Other than that Norman Hill kept to himself. His wife Vanessa was pretty and popular in town. Their other daughters Britney and Sasha did well in school, had plenty of friends, and mostly kept out of trouble. Why did he need to go there tonight? Strapping on his ankle piece and putting his Glock in the holster, Sam leaned and kissed his wife.

“I love you. Get some sleep.”

“I’ll sleep when you come back home. I love you too, Sam.”

He nodded, leaving their bedroom. Heading downstairs, Sam went out the front door and to his police cruiser. It was a quiet, cool night on Peach Street. Tonight all the action seemed to be somewhere else.

***

When Sam pulled up to the house there were lights everywhere. Some of the neighbors had already come out to see what was happening. Dr. Rachel Howard and her husband were out there. So were Nora Bennett, the Hensons, the Ortizs, and the Mitchells.

Hotch and Emily were also outside but Sam had to ignore all of that. He was more focused on the Medical Examiner’s truck, the two Newberry PD cars, and the two cruisers from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department. What the hell was going on? Will LaMontagne met him on the other side of the police tape.

“What the hell is going on?” Sam whispered.

“It’s a bloodbath.” Will said. His face was paled; he looked as if he was going to be sick.

“I'm sorry?”

“Sam…they're all dead.”

He felt as if he was falling through space. Will couldn’t have just said what Sam thought he said. It sounded as if he said the Hill family was dead. People died everyday, he surely understood that, but the word bloodbath wasn’t always used. Who did this to them? What happened?

Sam found himself nodding and then he was walking into the house. There were police officers taking pictures of everything and gathering up evidence. Sam didn’t think he’d ever been in the house but it was pristine. Nothing seemed out of place…it looked straight out of Architectural Digest.

“They're upstairs.” Will said.

His voice sounded far away but Sam managed to nod. His mouth was dry. He didn’t know what he was going to see and how he was going to handle it. He’d been the Chief of Police for 3 years, the youngest in the town’s history. He’d been on the force since he returned home from Boston twelve years ago. He’d seen his share of bad things but this would be his first murder in Newberry proper. How could he even prepare himself?

In the master bedroom, Vanessa Hill lay in bed. All that poked out from the covers was her head, still resting on the pillow. It looked like it would any other night surely, minus the fact that the blanket covering her was soaked through with blood.

“We haven’t touched a thing and we won't until the M.E. comes this way.” Will said. “We don’t know if she was shot, stabbed, what. All we know is the neighbors didn’t hear a thing.

“There’s blood spatter.” Sam replied, not sure where his voice came from. “It’s on the wall, ceiling, and the carpet. Most likely it was a stabbing. I would suspect a beating but there doesn’t seem to be any head injuries.”

“Come to the girls’ rooms.”

He didn’t want to. He didn’t want to be anywhere near this scene. His wife was home alone and suddenly Sam was struck with the thought that something like this could happen to her. He had to stop in the hallway and clutch his stomach. He needed to be home protecting her; a maniac was on the loose.

“Sam?” Will put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. This kind of thing didn’t happen in Newberry, that’s for sure. He knew Sam wasn’t soft or even out of his element. When things needed to be handled, he handled him. That’s the kind of man he was. Still, this was not even a rare occurrence…it was something that just didn’t happen. To Will’s knowledge, and he’d only been there since 2005, the last person murdered in Newberry was Derek Morgan’s father nearly 30 years ago.

“I'm alright.” Sam cleared his throat. “Take me to the girls.”

They went to Britney’s room first. She was on top of the covers; her eyes still open. She’d been stabbed repeatedly with a large knife and there was blood caked on her head. She also had defensive wounds.

“She fought back.” Sam said.

“Yeah, we figured she woke up during the attack and fought for her life.”

“She lost.”

“Yeah.” Will nodded. “How old was she?”

“Sixteen I think. She’s a junior at the high school…she was a junior.”

“Her little sister is this way.”

Sasha was tucked in bed like her mother. The M.E. was in there looking her over.

“Prophet, what's the story?” Sam asked.

Jonathan “Prophet” Sims was the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner. He hadn't always been on the right side of the law. He was about 6 years older than Sam but had spent some time in jail, maybe prison, many moons ago. Sam didn’t know what he did; only that he was good at his job now. That was all that mattered to him. Everyone was allowed a second chance.

“She’s been stabbed approximately 16 times. She was also suffocated…there are petechiae in her eyes. I have to get her on the table for a better idea of what happened when. There aren’t any defensive wounds so I’m thinking the suffocation happened first and perhaps she was only unconscious. He may have seen her breathing a second time around.”

“Yeah, OK.”

Sam walked out of the room with Will on his heels. He needed to go somewhere, get some air. There was no way he could ever make sense of this. Going out front wasn’t an option; it was a circus out there. He headed straight back through the kitchen and into the backyard. His friend was right behind him.

“What the hell happened tonight? Mark called me, Will. Where are my guys?”

“They went back to the station with Norman.” Will replied.

“Oh God, no.” Sam covered his eyes but the images were never going away. “Don’t tell me…don’t you tell me that. Oh my God.”

“He was driving erratically down Main Street so local PD pulled him over. When they approached the car they found him covered in blood. He kept screaming that they were all dead.”

“Norman did this?”

“We don’t know yet. He seems to be in a state of shock. We don’t know anything right now. I refuse to jump to conclusions until I know more. There are way more questions than answers right now.”

“Was he injured?” Sam asked. “Was the blood his?”

“I'm sure they called in a doctor to take a look at him. We need to head back to the police station anyway. You guys are working with the Sheriff’s Department on this one.”

“I'm not gonna fight the help. I'm not sure I can do it alone.”

“I always got your back, Sam.”

“Yeah.” he nodded. “Let’s get back to the police station and try to get some answers.”

They walked back through the house and were outside once again. More neighbors had gathered, gawking as they do when something interesting happens. He didn’t know if he should talk to anyone but some of those people were his friends. This was a small town and rumors could run like a wildfire. He knew a few he could trust though, and people needed to be questioned anyway. He told Will he would meet him at the station and then went across the street to talk to Nora.

“Hey Nora.”

“Hey. Something bad happened, didn’t it?”

“Did you hear anything tonight?” Sam didn’t answer her question.

“This street is always quiet after about nine. I had the front door open until nearly eleven but nothing out of the ordinary happened.”

“Are you sure? Think really hard.”

“I'm sure, Sam.” Nora nodded. “I can't think of anything. I did see Vanessa tonight though.”

“What time was that?”

“Um, I think it was around seven thirty. I’d gone out to get some ice cream and when I pulled in she was pulling in too. I waved and we made a little small talk. She said that Britney was interested in Dartmouth and wanted me to bring her an info packet. The one they requested in the mail hadn't arrived.”

“Did you see Norman at all today or tonight?” Sam asked.

“No.” she shook her head. “What happened?”

“They’re dead, Nora.”

“Who’s dead?” She asked.

“The whole family is dead.”

“Oh my God.” She covered her mouth as the tears pooled in her eyes and fell down her cheeks. “Are you kidding? I know you're not kidding but…oh my God. I just talked to her. Oh my God.”

Sam put his arms around her, pulled her into a hug. He knew they were being watched but he didn’t give a damn. Some things were more important than the prying eyes of neighbors. By tomorrow morning there would be bigger fish to fry than the Chief of Police hugging an old flame. There weren't too many people who knew she was an old flame anyway.

“I'm so sorry.” He whispered. She still smelled like Halston. No, it wasn’t his wife’s scent but it was still instantly recognizable. Not many women wore it but it suited Nora perfectly.

“Don’t you apologize to me, Sam Kassmeyer.” Nora pulled back and wiped her eyes. She knew the neighbors were looking as well. Sometimes she loved and hated this town all in the same breath. “You just go out there and find the bastard who did this. You find him and you make him pay.”

“I will.” Sam wiped her messy face. “You try to get some sleep and if you think of anything, even if you think it’s insignificant, just call me.”

“OK.” Nora nodded.

Sam hugged her once more and then walked away. He was heading over to his best friend who was now standing on his front lawn alone. This was going to be a very long night; maybe Hotch’s voice of reason would keep him from falling into the dark abyss. Here’s to hoping, Sam thought as he took a deep breath and started asking Hotch some basic questions.

***

Jessie woke abruptly and looked around the room. She hadn't meant to fall asleep; she was serious when she told Sam she wouldn’t sleep until he came home. Yet she was in bed alone. Rubbing her eyes, Jessie looked at the clock and saw it was quarter to five in the morning. Where could Sam be? What happened at the Hill house that would keep him out this late?

She sat up, swung her feet on the floor, and tried to take a breath. She wasn’t going to let her mind go there…Sam was OK. He had to be OK as Jessie was sure she would feel it in her heart if he wasn’t. She had to stop thinking about Desi’s father being shot during a domestic dispute. It could all happen in the blink of an eye but Sam was fine. When she took another deep breath, Jessie smelled coffee.

That got her up out of bed. She walked out of the bedroom, down the hallway, and then down the back stairs. Sam was sitting at their kitchen table with a cup of coffee. He looked lost, his blue eyes glazed over as if he was deep in thought. She didn’t want to scare him so Jessie didn’t say a word. She sat down across from him, putting her hand down over his.

“Hey you.” she smiled though she knew in her gut something was very wrong. He barely responded to her touch or her words. “Sam?”

“Hmm?” he came out of his haze. “Hey, what are you doing awake? You were sleeping when I came home.”

“Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You were sound asleep, Jess, as you should be at 4:30 in the morning.” He replied.

“What happened tonight?”

“I'm not entirely sure. So much information is coming in but um…” Sam exhaled and tried to hold back the tears. “Jesus.”

“What is it, Sam? I’d like it if you talked to me. I’ll understand if you can't tell me official police stuff but you can tell me anything else.”

“Do you remember when we were reading about the Road Warrior in the newspaper?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, he’s killed four people at random in Manchester. Just drives up to them in their cars and opens fire.”

“Right.” He nodded. “Tonight Norman Hill sat in an interrogation room in my police station and confessed to the crimes.”

“Oh my God.” Jessie gasped. “What? Sam, he murdered those people? Norman Hill…the guy who sold my parents their life insurance? He eats the same thing for brunch every Saturday and he helped get all the sponsorship for the high school teams. We go to church with him.”

“Yeah, we do.”

“Has he lost his mind?”

“I don't know, baby. We all know he hasn’t been right since Jenny died but this is something I never thought could happen.”

“Why did you have to go to his house? Did Manchester PD need you guys present to make an arrest? Was the FBI involved in this; the papers said it was a serial case.”

“The media loves the word serial killer.” Sam replied. “It sells a lot of papers. Something else happened tonight. Norman confessed to being the Road Warrior but he claims to know nothing about the murder of his family.”

Sam looked at his wife when he said it. He could see the words processing through Jessie’s mind just as they processed through his when Will told him it was a bloodbath. A part of him never wanted her to understand. But she was a smart woman and it would dawn on her eventually. Most likely it would only take a matter of moments, even if it seemed like longer to him.

“Vanessa is dead?” she asked. “When you say the whole family are you talking about Sasha and Britney too, Sam? Who would do that to them? Norman wouldn’t do that to them.”

“We don’t know what happened yet, baby. He’s not in the best shape. When he confessed to the murders in Manchester it was a long, rambling statement that made little to no sense. Then he just started screaming about his family. I'm not a psychiatrist or a profiler or anything like that but he seemed broken. That doesn’t mean he didn’t do it…he was covered in their blood.”

“I don’t want to hear anymore.” Jessie covered her ears. “Stop it, Sam.”

“I'm sorry.” He sipped his coffee. “I'm sorry, Jessie.”

“I can't believe this is happening. This doesn’t happen in Newberry. I don’t want Norman to have done this but oh my God, if he didn’t…someone is out there hurting families.”

“I don’t want you worrying.” Sam reached for both of her hands. “We’re going to solve this and protect this community. Will is working with me and we won't stop until it’s solved. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, never ever.”

Jessie nodded. She got up from the table, walking away from it and her husband. She stood in front of the window and looked out on another dawn in New Hampshire. What if someone was lurking out there right now? What if they were being watched? Stalked? Hunted? What if the bad things had just begun? Jessie jumped when Sam put his arms around her.

“Calm down, Jess.”

“My heart is beating really fast.” She replied, tears in her voice. “I…I can't comprehend this, Sam.”

“Its only just begun, I'm afraid. Whatever we find out is gonna be awful. The town’s gonna talk and factions will form. You're not going to be able to escape it at the diner. And even I'm going to have to conduct a press conference later this afternoon. The news has probably already broken…Appletree Terrace didn’t sleep a wink last night.”

“My nephew lives on that street.” Jessie turned in his arms. “Is it safe there?”

“We’ve stepped up patrols.” Sam replied, biting back a yawn.

“You must be exhausted. You don’t need to be downing coffee, Sam, you need sleep.”

He’d actually come home to rest for a couple of hours but every time he thought about laying his head on a pillow he saw those bodies again. This wouldn’t be easy…this would be the hardest case he ever worked. But Sam planned to solve it. He would make sure that the people of Newberry felt safe again even if nothing else was ever the same. He would make sure Jessie felt safe.

“C'mon upstairs.” She hugged him close. “I know you probably only have a few hours but I’ll hold you. I don’t know if you'll sleep but I promise not to let go.”

Sam nodded, kissing her. He did it once, then again, and again. Then he just stood there and held her tight. Her energy consumed him; it was just what he needed.

They walked up the stairs with their arms around each other and into their bedroom. Just six hours before the world had been one way and now it was vastly different. The real world had just invaded Newberry. The real world was cold and scary. With Jessie Sam would always be safe and warm.

***


End file.
